Things You Never Knew About Your Superiors
by Saori Runa Dempsey
Summary: We all know you get to see a lot more once you’re one of them...Story 2: It was just another visit to her and her crazy apartment like always...until a pair of snakes turned things crazy. NaruHina, ShikaTema, Nejiten, GenShizu, and SasuSaku hinting.
1. Tenten & Shiranui Genma

**I'm such a lazy bum, I know, but my other stories are coming along. I have a fascination with the secondary Chuunin and Jonin characters though, so this is pretty much a compilation of random writings about every day occurrences that the Konoha 12 happen to see involving their superiors now that they are no longer Genin. (Because we all know you get to see a lot more once you're one of them). **

**Presumably, this takes place well after Sasuke Returns and all that. How **_**those**_** events come about, you can simply guess. I won't go into much detail about that.**

**Anyway, enjoy, and give me some feedback!**

**Disclaimer: I own no one but Nagashi Fuyuna and Inazuri Tsurako. Everyone else, sadly, belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.**

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_**Things You Never Knew About Your Superiors: Story 1**_

_**The Higher the Rank, the Lower the Maturity Level**_

_By Saori Runa Dempsey_

"_NAGASHI!"_

All of Konoha and half of Suna awoke that morning to the delightful yells of one Shiranui Genma outside of the apartment building where several of Konoha's more well known Chuunin and Jonin resided. Tenten, having newly rented the apartment above the chuunin examiner, peered out her bedroom window and couldn't help but point out loudly, "How did you get up so _HIGH,_ Shiranui-sempai?"

How he got 'up-there' was quite obvious, but no one had ever accused Tenten of being particularly quick-witted in the mornings. Once she got a nice strong cup of coffee in her system, she'd be sharp as a tack, but before then she'd be lucky if she remembered what her name was.

His senbon gnashed irritably between his teeth as he unsuccessfully tried to dislodge himself from the flagpole holding him up in the air like one very heavy flag. "Tenten-chan, would ya be sa kind as ta cut meh down?" His accent that no one could place was even more pronounced in his irritation, so she had to pause a few minutes just to decipher what the hell he was trying to say.

While she did this, various other complex occupants had come out to see what in the world the ruckus was about.

"Who'd you piss off this time, Shiranui?" Hagane Kotetsu hooted from the apartment above hers. Though Tenten didn't hear Izumo, Kotetsu's roommate, she imagined he was there too, just as amused as his friend.

"Ho…maybe we should just let him hang there a while," Anko-sensei cackled, leaning in the doorway of her apartment down the hall.

"Won't Shizune get mad if we do?" Izumo finally leaned over into view to muse out loud. "It's getting cold out with fall turning to winter. She'll kill us if she has to deal with a sick Genma."

Though it was barely noticeable, a twitch ran through many of the onlookers. Apparently, this was a bad thing. While she'd learned…quite a bit since attaining Chuunin status, Tenten hadn't been here in her new apartment long enough to know the more personal quirks of the comrades she'd always thought of as her superiors. They still were, sort of, but she stood more or less on equal footing with them now, in the unspoken hierarchy of things. This made her and many others privy to things she and her former Genin comrades hadn't even suspected about them.

Like how frequently Shiranui-sempai got picked on.

Izumo and Kotetsu, she quickly realized, liked picking on him the most. Aoba tried, but obviously Genma-sempai's old teammate didn't succeed as she usually saw him getting a sound knock in the head if he even tried. Nagashi, who he was currently cursing to the deep depths of hell, was one of the Jonin she wasn't as familiar with. According to the two upstairs, however, the two Jonin had some unspoken one-up game going that dated back over a decade.

Apparently, this was just another move in the big game of things.

Taking pity – and because Iwashi kindly brought her up a cup of coffee from his first floor apartment – Tenten let a single kunai fly and watched as Genma-sempai fell, falling seamlessly to his feet because he was, ultimately, a Tokubetsu Jonin. Only Genin would fall clumsily from such a height.

"Your girlfriend is toast," he scowled up at the two bachelors above her, though she still wasn't sure whether he was addressing Izumo or Kotetsu. Seeing as neither of them looked particularly worried, she presumed it was just him letting off steam.

With an easy leap, the senbon-chewing Jonin was on her other side, leaning back against the railing and swiping her half-empty mug of coffee. "Tastes like shit, Tatami," he finally said as he swallowed the last drop.

Tenten just stared at it, torn between sighing and demanding he make her a pot to replace the cup she _hadn't finished._ She'd make her own, but anything that wasn't a weapon tended to dislike her. Her domestic habits ran along the same lines as Izumo and Kotetsu, who made it a habit to drag her out to eat with them if they were around at the same time.

Come to think of it, Genma-sempai's domestic talents were even worse then theirs. So Tenten sighed, and stared pleadingly at the only domestically-decent Chuunin that she knew in the building.

Even if his coffee really did taste like shit.

"That swill he calls coffee will kill us one day," Genma-sempai said conversationally, looping a friendly arm around her shoulders as the three of them meandered into her apartment. It wasn't unusual for them to do so in the mornings, though her relationship with Shiranui Genma befuddled Neji and Lee to no end whenever he got so friendly like this. Even Gai-sensei was bemused, though it wasn't all _that_ strange. His obsession with pointy things – especially senbon – was hardly a secret. He'd spied, on a fluke, some of her special senbon that she was working on one day and, after she'd shrugged and said he could have them to keep since he liked them so much, she'd become his favorite person in the world.

It all just kind of expanded from there.

"Learn to make your own then," Iwashi grumped with a small glare, though it held no heat as he dutifully handed them both a steaming mug.

Now, her friendship with Iwashi wasn't so confusing, but she found it befuddling that he and Neji _did not get along_. At all. The elitist in Neji had decreased since that fateful first Chuunin exam, and Iwashi just liked _everyone_, so it made no fathomable sense_._ She'd flattered herself, a little, in thinking maybe Neji was jealous, but why only Iwashi? If he were jealous, wouldn't he naturally be jealous of Genma-sempai too? Reputation for pointy obsession aside, he was also a notorious charmer to boot.

"That's how we came to be living in _this_ place," Genma-sempai grumped, and Tenten laughed with Iwashi. Izumo and Kotetsu had _delighted_ in regaling her with the story of how he'd _tried_ to cook dinner for Shizune, once, and ended up burning their old apartment building to the ground. There hadn't been anything salvageable left of the place by the time the flames had been put out, so must of the building's occupants had relocated here where they were only 20 minutes away from Hokage Tower.

"No burning this place down while I'm away," she told him. "I'm going to need my place in good condition by the time I get back from this mission."

"Another A-rank with Gai and your teammates, eh?" he grinned at her knowingly.

Iwashi, in typical form, frowned a little in worry. "You could always ask Godaime-sama to cut back on these A-rank missions."

This, of course, is why she also found the notion that Neji was jealous ridiculous. Her well meaning friend always said this, when anyone who really understood her knew that she _lived_ for such missions. They were a challenge and, while they made her bone tired and sore as hell, continually helped her improve in ways that training alone would never accomplish. Genma-sempai knew this, so he'd long ago stopped wasting his breath about it.

Because he meant so well though, she only smiled and said, "It'll be fine. With Lee and Neji at my back, I've got nothing to worry about except if I'll have a bed to crash into when I get back."

The young Chuunin – the youngest in the building other then her – looked even more dubious, but his watch's alarm cut it short. "Have to go to the academy and help Iruka-san. Have a safe mission then, Tenten. See you when you get back." He gave her shoulder a squeeze before he disappeared, the smell of coffee lingering in his wake.

"It really is crap," she mumbled, never the less downing her third mug and refilling for a fourth and making Genma-sempai snort.

"It's strong – that's what counts." He filled up his fifth – or was it sixth? – and looked upwards curiously when her ceiling rattled. "What the hell are they doing up there?"

Tenten glanced up just in time to see a big black blur go crashing through the ceiling, through her floor and into Genma-sempai's apartment, going dot-eyed as she peered over the edge where Kotetsu was sprawled in debris, looking rather…limp. Looking up, Izumo was peering over the edge of the hole with a low whistle, Nagashi beside him looking quite amused. Nagashi's friend, Inazuri, was obviously the one who'd punted him all the way down to the first floor, veins throbbing on her clenched fist.

Of course, all this completely went over Genma-sempai's head.

"There you are, Nagashi!" He was off like a rocket, scowling, and Nagashi muttered a quick curse before she disappeared too, though the yelling could be heard long after they both disappeared into the distance.

For a long moment, Tenten just looked up and met Izumo's gaze, his one visible eye twinkling in suppressed mirth. Holding up Genma-sempai's abandoned coffee mug, she asked simply, "Coffee?"

He took it with one of those smiles that had broken more then one heart in Konoha. "Why not?"

Face completely serious, she said, "Iwashi made it."

And Izumo's face turned green, spitting out the now tepid liquid right before he would've swallowed.

While he let loose a curse so vile that poor Hinata would've blushed, Tenten just smiled and blew him a kiss that made the disgruntled Chuunin roll his eyes at her.

"_What happened to my CEILING!"_

They both paused to glance down at Ebisu, his horrified face staring at the mess that was now his first floor apartment.

That did it.

"Have a safe trip, Tenten," Izumo said between laughs, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. She took off too, before Ebisu decided to start ranting, laughing even as she met up with her bemused team at the front gate.

She really couldn't wait to come back home.

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**A/N: I'm not sure how this particular story ultimately came about. Though, to me it makes sense. Of all the Konoha 12, Tenten is very much unused for the most part like many of her superiors. So, in a way, she seemed like the most logical one who would join "their ranks"...or in this case, their apartment complex. Anyway, I have two ideas simmering in my head for a next installment:**

**1. Anko & Uchiha Sasuke (You can just see how this is going to go...)**

**2. Izumo, Kotetsu, & Hyuuga Neji (This will go almost as well as the above one, lol)**

**Please review and tell me what you think of this whole idea I have going and which one of the above you want to see next. Or any other random mesh that you think may be interesting!**

**Saori Runa Dempsey**


	2. Hyuuga Neji & Tenten

**Some shameless Nejiten moments here, because I think they're absolutely adorable. Hope you like installment two!**

_**Things You Never Knew About Your Superiors**_

_**Snakes at the Door**_

**By Saori Runa Dempsey**

It was just supposed to be a quiet late morning visit.

"_Again!"_

Despite it sounding like the fourth ninja war was going on right outside her apartment door, Tenten was remarkably laid back about it. It shouldn't have surprised Neji, considering she lived in Konoha's _loudest_ apartment complex. It housed the likes of Miturashi Anko, Shiranui Genma, Kamizuki Izumo, and Hagane Kotestu all under one roof, just to name a few. It _had_ to be loud. It would've driven him crazy to suffer the antics of those people but she liked it, for some reason or another, so he just had to deal with it if he so wished to see the resident artillery specialist in the way he had since become accustomed.

In other words, seeing her every chance he got. Between duties for his clan and Jounin duties for Konoha, his free time was preciously sparse.

"What are they doing?" he couldn't help asking, because of all their friends only Tenten would know. She'd somehow situated herself quite nicely with the older shinobi…a fact he didn't really find surprising. Tenten did not gossip and giggle over guys like Sakura or Ino did on a daily basis, nor was she extensively concerned about clothes and make-up. She didn't mix well with the girls of their generation because of that, though she'd get along with Hinata-sama well if, for some reason, his cousin weren't just a tiny bit intimidated by her.

That bit of knowledge still befuddled him to no end.

So it really wasn't a surprise to him that they welcomed her like an old comrade into their fold. Privately, he was somewhat relieved about it. She didn't have just him and Lee as part of her intimate circle anymore. She had more people who could appreciate her talents and skills like they ought to be.

"Anko-sensei is helping Sasuke train with his cursed seal."

Though, admittedly, he found himself wondering about her newfound comradery when stuff like this happened.

His eye ticked. He didn't much care for the Uchiha – now or back then – though he admitted grudgingly to the boy being strong. It did vex him that Tenten seemed rather…closer to the Uchiha then he would've expected these days, however.

She noticed his confusion, and even that vexed irritation, and chuckled slightly. "He stops by with Anko-sensei after they train so I can sharpen his blades. She tends to dull them out over the course of four hours frequently."

While this was not an unusual thing – he himself often stopped by her place to have her sharpen his kunai for him, much like Nara Shikamaru had taken to doing as well lately at the sand witch's recommendation – it still irked Neji a little bit. Biased or not, he liked the idea that the Uchiha was getting close to Tenten about as much as he liked that blank-faced simpleton Iwashi.

"_Tian-chan~!"_

Neji twitched as the sadist Chuunin Examiner herself appeared in the kitchen, wrapping her arms around her shoulders with that crazy grin stretched across her mouth. He didn't know how Tenten could remain unbothered by it when he felt like shuddering just by sitting there and watching her.

"Ohayo, Anko-sensei." With her usual smile, she cheerfully offered the snake summoner some dango that – he had to be seeing things – made the examiner look like a school girl who'd just been given a week pass to a bishounen convention.

"Ah, Tian-chan, you're too kind," she chuckled, gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek, and disappeared again without a word. It surprised neither of them when only moments later, more shouts and crashes began echoing.

"_Again, Uchiha!_ Don't go wasting my time!"

"She's nice when you feed her sweets," was all Tenten said to the numerous questions he asked her silently.

Why did he have trouble believing that?

"Nice for her, anyway."

Ah. Now that he believed.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"_

Both he and Tenten went on alert as they heard the distinctive hiss of a snake. Miturashi was _not_ known for her restraint among the chuunin and jounin of Konoha. He was just one step behind her as they both went outside to see what the hell was going on in the training field across the street.

They weren't the only ones, apparently.

"She can't call Manda, right?" Shiranui Genma asked dubiously as he immediately jumped up to join them, watching as the angry snake as tall as Hokage Tower hissed at the slumped 'genin'.

"She did once on a fluke," Izumo pointed out from upstairs, by himself for once. "After taking a soldier pill."

"And you remember what a pain it was getting that damn thing to go back to the rock it slithered out from under," Genma huffed, annoyed at whatever memory he was having.

"Sasuke can call him," Tenten mused, and both of the older shinobi looked at her as one.

"…" Neji studied the scene before him, shaking his head. The Uchiha couldn't possibly be stupid enough to…

"_Kuchiyose!"_

…but he was indeed.

Both Kamizuki and Shiranui went bleach white as the massive snake lord rose out, hissing low at Anko's summon that immediately vanished in a cloud of smoke from sheer terror. The examiner didn't look terrified so much as annoyed by Manda's presence, though the Uchiha was downright smirking as he brought himself up to his feet.

"_Boy!"_ it boomed, and Neji's hair blew back behind him from the force of it. _"What did you call me for?"_

"For kicks and giggles," the Uchiha grunted, glaring at Manda and looking unconcerned that he'd just summoned the harbinger of destruction to Konoha's residential district.

Shiranui, who looked ready to go hide under whatever rock the snake lord had vacated, looked up at Kamizuki and demanded, "Inazuri there by chance?" When the chuunin didn't move, Genma spat the senbon in his mouth at him, making the man yelp when it poked him right in his arm. "Is she or not?"

"She's home sleeping." Yanking out the offending needle, he threw it back at him with a glare. "She and Fuyuna just got back from that mission of theirs last night."

"Nagashi's no help against snakes," Genma grumbled, frustrated as he caught the senbon back with his teeth. "Inazuri could've at least summoned her minions for him to eat."

"_Uchiha!_ You owe me a hundred sacrifices, bratling!"

"Not before he finishes training!" Anko shot out, and the snake turned to her as if just realizing the psychotic woman was there. Grinning, she said, "Been awhile, Manda."

"Miturashi Anko," his deep voice rumbled, forked tongue flicking out. Consideringly. "Orochimaru no Yarou's old student."

"Much obliged ya remember me," she chuckled. "But we're training, and much as I love seein' ya, you're in the way. So if you go back, I'll have him call ya out later and give you a _real_ nice meal later. Deal?"

Neji half expected the snake to just eat her. He wouldn't mind, really, as that grin on her face really was skin–crawlingly creepy. He hadn't liked that grin at his first Chuunin exam and he certainly didn't like it now.

For a good moment, it really did look like Manda was going to eat her. Tenten readied her scrolls and Kamizuki and Shiranui started doing jan-ken-pon to determine if they should save her or not. But then the snake, through some snake charming Neji would never understood, hissed and glared at the Uchiha and warning him that he'd eat him next time if he called him out for no reason again before disappearing in a cloud of purplish-grey smoke.

Dead silence reigned for a good long moment before Shiranui broke it.

"What _really_ nice meal is she talking about?"

"You don't want to know." Sasuke appeared so fast he made Genma jump, startled by his sudden appearance. It took quite a bit to make Jounins of any flavor jump, though Neji could understand why. Most of the time, they were unsure of whether to just give the Uchiha some space or attack him. While he was an official part of Konoha again, old habits died hard.

"Give them to me," Tenten demanded, holding her hands out impatiently for the Uchiha's weapons, and Neji twitched as he gave her a slight glare of annoyance.

They died _really_ hard.

"Sakura's waiting," was all he muttered, almost to himself like an after thought, and Tenten grinned _that_ grin. Even Hinata-sama had a more demure version of that grin, though it meant roughly the same thing no matter which female in his life wore it, from Tenten to Hanabi. It meant that not only did she know something, but that he, a man, would never begin to understand just how much she knew.

The Uchiha apparently knew this too, because he just disappeared from sight without another word.

"Sakura-chan's so forgiving…" Izumo sighed above them, shaking his head.

"She's so in love," Tenten corrected, and Izumo sighed again, unhappy. "Why the miserable expression, Izumo-san?"

Not that he cared – because he didn't; no kind of ass kicking could get him to care about other people's romantic interests and the gossip surrounding _that_ – but Neji was curious about the aggravation in the otherwise unremarkable Chuunin's tone. The only reason Kamizuki Izumo hadn't disappeared into another random face was simply due to the fact that, well…he lived in this place. Hyuuga Neji made it a point to remember all those who lived in Tenten's building.

For her safety, of course. A good friend kept tabs on these sorts of things.

"Izu-chan feel very protective much?" Miturashi trilled in that high pitched, sweet as saccharine voice of hers that grated on the nerves. Shiranui ducked back into his apartment faster then he could blink while a visible shudder ran up Kamizuki's body as Anko hugged him close like a sister would affectionately hold her brother. She licked up his cheek, giggling in a sound that, personally, Neji _never_ wanted to hear again.

Still grinning as she joined them, giving Kamizuki the chance to duck back into his apartment for safety, she was practically whistling as she leaned back against the rail and shook her head. "Anyone working in Hokage Tower seems taken by Haruno-chan. Even _Raidou_, for crying out loud. I practically have to string that man upside down by his toes to get him to do anything, yet he's been acting like a neurotic papa over her without any prompting once so ever."

"It's because he came back," Neji murmured without thinking. "No one trusts him anymore."

"Ah." Miturashi made an annoyed face. "It's why I agreed to help the punk ass."

Even Tenten seemed confused by that. "Why is that? Even I don't quite get it."

However, Neji thought he might understand the crazy woman's reasoning…a little. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't so behind on the goings on of Konoha outside of the Hyuuga compound that he didn't know such mundane knowledge like that.

_Miturashi Anko, former student who trained under the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru. _As an after thought, he added, _that son of a bitch snake._

Him, bitter? Never.

But he'd bet anything that the snake's legacy left the psychotic Tokujo and last living Uchiha more then a little so. Comradery in their aggravation, so to speak.

In hindsight, there were probably worse things to bond over then that.

"As a teacher he was great. As a person he left a little to be desired. But no one could _not _admit that he was an amazing ninja." Miturashi was almost…sad as she reflected on this. "Ah…I find myself tired. I'll see you two kids later!" Saucy grin back on her face, she winked and sang, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do~!"

Several dozen shuriken and kunai imbedded themselves around Miturashi's apartment door as she went inside laughing.

"They're so horrible," Tenten complained as she recalled her weapons with her-near invisible wires. Pouting slightly, she leaned back against the rail next to him, breathing in the crisp autumn air slowly. "They think I'm in love with you, you know."

Physically, he didn't react at all. Neji just leaned back as far as he could to contemplate this. It wasn't the first time he would hear it, nor the last, but he got a perverse amusement out of listening to it never the less. "Do they now?"

"Like everyone else," she grinned back.

"I'm surprised you never bother to correct them," he said absently, aware that anyone in known relation to him of the female persuasion generally had a tough time of things. Then again, Tenten seemed to thrive on challenges. It would very much be like her to leave it be just for _'kicks and giggles'._

"It's fun," she grinned, pure delight in her expression, and he smiled slightly. Of course she'd find murderous Hyuuga females hilarious. To his knowledge, she was a rare outsider who knew some of the Hyuuga's not-quite-top-secret secrets. It rubbed some of the females the wrong way, aside from Hinata-sama who seemed a little too smug about it then the situation warranted sometimes. "Aren't you supposed to be heading back to the main branch? You have another meeting with Hiashi-san and the elders again, right?"

Neji couldn't school his features enough not to grimace. Being honest about his feelings was all too easy with her sometimes. "Yes. While Hiashi-sama has been quite kind, some of the main branch elders aren't quite as practical about his idea to teach me some of the main branch's more exclusive techniques."

Her face alone spoke volumes about what she thought of that, but she remained silent. Instead, she nodded, then leaned over and gave him a friendly kiss on his cheek. While this wasn't out of the ordinary for her, he suspected she lingered longer then usual due to the prying eyes he could feel around them.

It was almost disappointing.

"You are a cruel kunoichi," he murmured, low enough so only she could hear before he jumped away. Even all the way on the other side of the residential district an hour later, at the Hyuuga compound, her lingering laughter still echoed in his ears well over the low, gruff droning of the elders.

That alone was enough to bring a true smile to even his face.

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As always, reviews are encouraged! I'd like to know opinions about the story, and maybe even some ideas about other installments. So please R&R!**


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